Post office employees say they have been banned from mentioning Amazon deliveries as a cause of mail delays

Around 65 people gathered for the listening session.
(Photo by Annalise Braught, Bemidji Pioneer)

One of the U.S. Postal Service's greatest strengths -- connecting every delivery point in the United States to every other delivery point -- is what made a company like Amazon possible. But now, the massive task of servicing Amazon's contract is pushing some rural post offices to the brink.

Even limited research on Amazon packages and rural post offices shows how hard rural post office employees must work to fulfill the sheer number of Amazon packages and overall "last mile" package deliveries. Articles and petitions addressing the issue include details on how stressed postal employees are, including The Washington Post's recent story with this headline: "Rural post office was told to prioritize Amazon packages. Chaos ensued."

Since the Post article was published, mail carriers in their featured small town, Bemidji, Minnesota, say they have been censored for speaking out. "Mail carriers in a rural Minnesota post office [Bemidji] overwhelmed by Amazon packages say they've been warned not to use the word 'Amazon,' including when customers ask why the mail is delayed," Caroline O'Donovan of The Washington Post reports. "'We are not to mention the word Amazon to anyone,' said a mail carrier. . . . 'If asked, they're to be referred to as Delivery Partners or Distributors,' said a second carrier. 'It's ridiculous.'"

The directive was "passed down Monday morning from U.S. Postal Service management and comes three weeks after mail carriers in the northern Minnesota town staged a symbolic strike outside the post office" to protest "the heavy workloads and long hours caused by the sudden arrival of thousands of Amazon packages, O'Donovan reports. "On Tuesday, staffers from the offices of Democratic Minnesota senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar hosted a 'listening session' with Bemidji residents to "discuss ongoing postal issues related to package and mail delivery."

"In addition to being banned from saying 'Amazon,' postal workers have also been told their jobs could be at risk if they speak publicly about post office issues," O'Donovan adds. "Staffers were told they could attend Tuesday's meeting only on their 30-minute lunch break if they changed out of uniform, mail carriers said. One mail carrier said he'd been warned there could be 'consequences' for those who showed up."

"Tuesday's meeting in Bemidji lasted over an hour. Fifty people attended in person, and more than 180 watched a live stream on the website of the local newspaper, the Bemidji Pioneer," O'Donovan reports. "Multiple postal workers who recently quit or retired due to the ongoing issues attended, including one who identified herself only as Shelly, and received a spontaneous round of applause when she began to speak. . . . 'I worked at the post office for 30 years. . . Never in my life have I been treated so poorly. I go home at night crying. . . I was forced to retire.'"

To read the Bemidji Pioneer's coverage, click here.